Richard James Fetterman was the oldest child and only
son of three children born to Dorothy
M. (Weedling) and Lafayette Ressler Fetterman. Dick, as he was known,
left home when his youngest sister was about nine years old for Ohio State
College in Columbus on a scholarship where he was on the swimming team
and among the best swimmers in the world. He was also on the Pepsi Cola
Swimming Team in Cincinnati, OH.

Beginning his third year of college, he transferred to
the University of Miami in Florida where he was the captain of his swimming
team. He graduated from there.

He swam in many competitions and won many medals and trophies in backstroke
and also in medley swimming in the United States and Hawaii, and perhaps
other places. He narrowly missed the Olympics because he caught a cold.

At twenty-seven years of age, Dick married a nurse and
lived in the Miami area where they bought a house and investment land
along the Florida coast. He never used his college education, but lived
very frugally mainly on his investment money. They had two children, Ann
and then RJ seven years later. The whole family helped him build a 40-foot
sail boat, which they lived on for a number of years and sailed around
the Florida Keys. For years after his marriage dissolved, he lived in
a camper on his truck and traveled to different parts of the United States.

Dick was somewhat of an exotic figure, as he was interested
in adventure, collecting bottles that were at the time around three hundred
years old which he found in the mangroves of the water, into geology and
checking out rocks, extremely into eating healthy, although we caught
him eating ice cream, etc. Whatever he pursued, he was totally focused
on the subject.

He loved climbing mountains and could climb thousands
of feet fairly quickly. He also loved riding bikes, once entered into
a race in Florida on a one-speed bike and beat all the others that were
on more modern bikes. He was offered a reward but told them he could not
accept it because he had not entered by the rules.

Later on, he studied all religions and could hear
the earth. Since then, I have read that this is true. In a very
quiet place (mountains, secluded areas, etc.), you can actually hear or
feel the earth vibrate. I believed him because he could explain everything.
He knew a lot about cures for different things and wanted to be notified
if anyone became ill or even sick with cancer. He would come to our aid.

He was intelligent and happy, eccentric and wise. He
had a gentle spirit and meant evil to no one. He did exactly what he wanted
with his life and lived it to the fullest measure until it was time to
go. Dick returned home from Guatemala where he was diagnosed with liver
cancer. He passed away shortly after that and his body was cremated.

His daughter Ann is a published writer of novels and
also maintains a website and blog.
She is married to a Brethren minister with a church in the Phoenix area.
His son RJ lives on Maui.

A very special thank you to his sister Gloria
Rogers and niece Cathy Haney for providing the above biography.